A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked Illinois’ ‘medical aid in dying’ law that was set to start this weekend.
With the judge’s approval, a temporary restraining order requested by Catholic leaders now stands in the way of the law, which would allow patients with terminal illnesses to seek “aid-in-dying” medication, from taking effect on Saturday.
The TRO essentially gives Catholic health care workers a temporary exemption from the law.
The block comes after Cardinal Blasé Cupich and the Chicago Archdiocese joined with Catholic health care workers to oppose certain portions of the law, arguing that those workers have a legal right not to adhere to the law in violation of their faith.
Cupich also says Pope Leo XIV is aware of the Illinois law, and discussed it with Pritzker when the governor visited the Vatican in recent months.
“The governor mentioned when he saw him the pope raised the issue. After the law was passed, the pope expressed his disappointment that the law was passed,” he said.
The law — also known as “Deb’s Law” — “authorizes a qualified patient with a terminal disease to request that a physician prescribe aid-in-dying medication that will allow the patient to end the patient’s life in a peaceful manner,” according to Senate Bill 1950.
Until the TRO was approved, the law was set to take effect on Saturday, nine months after it was signed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
The law was named for Deb Robertson, a former social worker who supported the bill. She says Illinois is now the 13th state to authorize end-of-life options, but she objects to calling the bill an “assisted suicide” measure.
“When someone refers to this law as assisted suicide, I get really upset and hurt in my heart,” she said. “The reason being is I spent my whole life helping people not to commit suicide for 30 years, and people who would utilize this law have a terminal illness, so they don’t have the choice of whether or not to live or die. Myself and others deserve the option to be able to (use this law).”
Under provisions of the bill, an individual must be a terminally ill adult with six months or less to live. That patient must be capable of making their own informed healthcare decisions, and while a doctor must prescribe the medication, the patient must be able to self-administer it.
Robertson says the self-administration component retains the personal choice involved in the delicate matter.
“People that oppose the law, they have the choice not to participate. That’s the best thing about this. It’s a personal choice,” she said.
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